Nordic surveillance group AB, has been around since August 2017. The company sells identity surveillance online. In total, the company has received about 60 police reports according to the police, 193 consumer complaints from the Hallå consumer, and 53 reports to the Swedish Consumer Agency. They have also had 13 cases with the General Complaints Board, ARN. In several of the cases, ARN has gone on the consumer's line.

- Given the size of the company, this is a high figure, especially if you combine the number of complaints with the complaints, says Hans Lundin, head of press at the Consumer Agency.

The company is also part of a review that the Swedish Consumer Agency is currently conducting by 12 companies in the country.

- The companies have been selected in part because of many reports and complaints from the Hello consumer. We will check how they live up to the legal requirement for written agreements in telephone sales, says Hans Lundin.

Agreement via sms

The complaints against the company to the Swedish Consumer Agency concern, among other things, misleading marketing, inappropriate sales method and unfair contract terms.

Many of the reports relate to people who asked for information about the service sent to them, the company should then have said that they should answer yes to a text message and then they have received invoices sent home, according to the notifiers.

From a report this year: “They called my dad last summer, told me about his service and wanted to send information, which he said yes - but only the information. He later receives a text message that he does not understand, it is not very clear that he must do something active in order NOT to enter into an agreement. Now he has received a bill of SEK 3000. "

Another report, also from this year, states: “Just wanted to get information about the company and then I would answer yes to the text message. Have not received any info but a bill of SEK 796 ”.

"The text is so clear"

According to the Nordic Monitoring Group's sales manager Markus Eriksson, it is not true that invoices were sent to someone who did not enter into the agreement.

- No customer has ever received an invoice without approving the contract via SMS. There is also no customer who has not answered yes to a text message that we have not removed if the customer has contacted us, he says.

How can it be like this then?

- It is very strange, the text is so clear that you can not misunderstand that you accept a service, it is mentioned price and right of withdrawal, says Markus Eriksson.

How do you look at the notifications you have received?

- In 2019, we have signed about 4000 agreements, so it is still a very small part but it still took too many. We are constantly working to improve service and such things for our customers, he says.

The interview with the sales manager was done when SVT Nyheter Väst had received around 40 out of a total of over 300 reports and complaints against the company. When, after the interview, we informed the company that we had found far more reports, they stopped answering our questions.

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- If you do not get enough good answers, then hang up, says Magnus Lindegren. Photo: SVT